It has been a week since the “Great American Eclipse.” It seems our great American society via media has moved on and is now consumed with the Great South Texas Flood. But is there a connection? Can we connect the dots? Total solar eclipses have been associated with catastrophic events throughout history. A short Google search will give you more information than what I will give you here. Not only verifiable historical events, but prophetic warnings throughout ancient history and within the last 200 years. Currently, many warnings are coming from the spiritually mature and prophetically gifted, i.e. Jonathan Cohn, Mark Biltz, Mena Lee Grebin, James Baily of Z3News, Ann Graham Lotz, Franklin Graham and many others. Each voice crying out in the wilderness may be a little different in content, but all agree the “sign in the sky” is a warning from the Lord. And what could he be warning us about? Perhaps, it is the same message that Jesus gave in the first public sermon He preached: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2) Coinciding with the eclipse, that clearly drew a line dividing our nation in half, is the Jewish season of repentance known as Teshuva: “Return to God.” This is a forty-day period of spiritual introspection and transparency before the Holy One of Israel. The forty days end on Yom Kippur, which is the holiest feast day on the Jewish Religious Calendar. (www.teshuva17.org ) The Jewish feasts are known as the “Mo’ed” of God or “appointments” set by the Father himself. The book of Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 14 tells us the lights in the heavens were created for “signs and seasons, and for days and year.” (The word translated “signs” is the word “Mo’ed” or appointment) (Read more: http://forward.com/culture/380192/the-secret-jewish-history-of-the-solar-eclipse/

If we are paying attention, we recognize that the path of the total solar eclipse across the Continental US can also be seen as a visual representation of the great divide that our nation is now experiencing. Polls show that we, as a nation, are divided 50/50 on almost all social and governmental and religious issues. Jesus told us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. This reminds me of a dream that our 15 year old son, Ian, had a few months ago. He came to me early in the morning rather distressed. He had a wakened from a deep sleep in which he saw a map of the United States of American divided in half from coast to coast, it was on fire. Let us heed the warning. Repentance, Teshuvah is the need of the hour.

We know that repentance was the message Jonah brought to the evil city/nation of Nineveh. Have you ever wondered about a whole city/nation repenting at the preaching of one man? Truly this remarkable conversion was miraculous. In delving into eclipse history we find the Creator of the Universe gave reticent Jonah’s message a heavenly visual: The Bur-Sagle Eclipse of Assyria. This eclipse as recorded in ancient history coincided with the call to repentance from the reluctant prophet and substantiated his sermon, you could say “where he guides he provides.”Since the Lord created the sun and the moon doesn’t it seem reasonable that He would use them as punctuation marks for Jonah’s message that orchestrated the conversion of many souls?(See http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tomhobson/2017/08/jonah-eclipse-ancient-nineveh/https://godinanutshell.com/2017/08/18/teshuvah-ninevehs-solar-eclipse/ )

As I was meditating on the words of Jesus concerning the end times, something really got my attention. First, Jesus said no sign would be given to “this evil generation except the sign of Jonah.” If Jesus was referring to “the sign” that arrested the attention of all the Ninevites, from the King to the lowliest citizen, would it not have been the total solar eclipse that effected everyone? The sign given on the same day that Jonah came declaring destruction?

Secondly, Jesus said the end of the age would parallel the days of Noah and Lot. Most assuredly, there are many similarities between our morally deprived society and the societies that reaped destruction in Noah and Lot’s day. Really, too many to list. But, the one that is scientifically discernible is the solar eclipse. If you go to NASA’s web page you will find a solar eclipse calculator. Just put in a date and it will show you the computer-generated data for the exact date of solar or lunar eclipses. So, I researched the historical dates of both Lot and Noah. Then I plugged those dates into the NASA solar eclipse program and this is what I found.

The year of the deluge was 1656 BC. One of the dates forwarded for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was 1890 BC. Interestingly and profoundly, both dates reflect a total solar eclipse as generated by the NASA computer model. Can you get your mind around this. Jesus, preaching to a stubborn Jewish nation declared that in the end times it would be like in the days of Noah and Lot. Jesus, as God, knew that people living in the end of days (our generation) would have the ability to research and confirm the similarities of the two societies and world event: the solar eclipse. Totally awesome.(See https://design-of-time.com/flood.htmhttps://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/timeline-for-the-flood/https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html)

However, I found that scholars cannot agree on the 1890 BC date for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and have indicated there are several more possibilities, one of the other most prominent being : 3123 BC. (Wikipedia) Just plug that date into the NASA computer and you find:Catalog of Long Total Solar Eclipses: -3999 to -3000

Now, here is the disclaimer. Establishing a date for Noah’s flood and for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is “iffy” at best. There are several ways to come to the supposed dates. Interestingly enough, whichever date you choose for the cataclysmic event that destroyed the twin cities there appears to also be a projected solar eclipse as calculated by NASA’s computer. (1890 BC, 1897 BC, 1896 BC, 2065 BC, 2300 BC or 3123 BC)

Nevertheless, for those who feel this is still a stretch, I’m ok with the skepticism. We can turn the page on the ancient solar eclipses if you want and just concentrate on this one word: REPENT. It was this word that the masses ignored in both Noah’s and Lot’s day. So, if today is like the days of Noah and the days of Lot, let us not make the same mistake they made. Let us hear the Word of the Lord.

As stated early on, Jesus began his public ministry with the message of repentance; as did John the Baptist. The Last book in the Bible is all about turning from our wicked ways and being restored to right relationship to our Lord before judgment falls. The turning of our nation back to the Lord starts in each of our hearts, in each of our churches. Consider making the next 40 days a time of prayer and fasting knowing that if we draw nigh unto the Lord, He will draw nigh unto us. May the Lord have mercy on us all.

Hebrews 10:22-39 New King James Version (NKJV)22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.The Just Live by Faith26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord.[b] And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”[c] 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me[d] in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.[e] 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:37 “For yet a little while,And He[f] who is coming will come and will not tarry.38 Now the[g] just shall live by faith;But if anyone draws back,My soul has no pleasure in him.”[h]39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.